Big Ten power rankings, Week 11: Michigan humiliates Penn State

ANN ARBOR, MI - NOVEMBER 03: Chase Winovich #15 of the Michigan Wolverines gets ready to lead the team onto the field prior to the start of the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Michigan Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan defeated Penn State 42-7. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MI - NOVEMBER 03: Chase Winovich #15 of the Michigan Wolverines gets ready to lead the team onto the field prior to the start of the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Michigan Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan defeated Penn State 42-7. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /
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Adrian Martinez Nebraska
COLUMBUS, OH – NOVEMBER 03: Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Adrian Martinez (2) runs the ball in a game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers on November 03, 2018 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, OH. (Photo by Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Nebraska Cornhuskers only have a couple of wins this year. That’s it. Nebraska is 2-7 on the season. Yet, against an Ohio State team that needs to do some soul-searching, the Nebraska Cornhuskers put up an incredible fight. Throughout the entire afternoon on Saturday, Scott Frost’s team went punch for punch with Ohio State and forced the Buckeyes to make several key mistakes.

Nebraska just barely fell short of having enough on offense to win on the road, but the Cornhuskers sure came close to doing it. Frost’s team is showing plenty of promise and potential and Saturday was almost a moment that would have defined his program. But, well, it wasn’t. A loss is still a loss. If I had to guess though, this five-point loss doesn’t hurt as bad as some of the other Nebraska losses this season.

It’s only been a few weeks since Iowa was all the way up to No. 3 on this list. Since then, the Hawkeyes have tumbled quite a bit. Most recently, Iowa lost to Purdue, who seems to be interested in making an outside run at winning the Big Ten West, something that Iowa was positioned to do just a couple of weeks back. Iowa can still have a solid season, but this is one that could have been much better for the Hawkeyes.

The Wisconsin Badgers got a win on Saturday, but it was against Rutgers and was by two touchdowns. The Badgers are 6-3 on the year and are only a game behind Northwestern in the Big Ten West standings, but it feels as if a miracle would be needed to get Wisconsin into the Big Ten Championship Game at this point. At this point, would Wisconsin really want that given the team from the Big Ten East that would likely meet them in that game?